Company Road Trip: Update

The Hearth, Patio, & Barbecue Expo was great! The HPBA show is an annual opportunity for us to meet with other Hearth & Patio retailers, manufacturers, and distributors to exchange ideas and discuss the current state of the industry. We’ve never taken the entire company before, so this was a brand new (and exciting) experience for most of the staff.

As part of our commitment to ongoing education and training, Wooden Sun employees attended a variety of classes and training sessions. Josh Thornhill, our warehouse manager, is now an NFI-certified gas technician (congratulations, Josh!).We’re waiting on the results for two of our other employees (including your faithful blogger), who took the woodburning certification exam. The certification exams required a full day of class work and a four hour final exam. The whole Wooden Sun team also attended a variety of courses on sales, job site safety, customer service and maintenance and  troubleshooting procedures for wood and gas products.

HPBA trade show
HPBExpo show floor. Photo courtesty of HPBExpo on Facebook

The trade show portion of the week was, of course, amazing. We caught up with our vendors and distributors (or, in some cases, met them in person for the first time!), got some refreshers on the products we sell, and enjoyed a sneak peek of upcoming product releases. We found some new-to-us vendors and products to explore, for both our indoor and outdoor categories. Several of our current distributors are releasing new products and product lines this summer or fall; watch this space for ongoing updates about exciting new products you can find in our store.

HPBA outdoor burn
The BBQ Dragon in action. Photo courtesy of HPBExpo.com

 

Even in the chilly weather, the outdoor burn area was going strong. Grills, smokers, pizza ovens — everything was fired up and producing amazing food (it was also nice to be able to stop at a firepit every few feet to take off the chill). As hearth professionals we were, of course, obligated to sample several different vendors’ offerings, to see which products we might be interested in bringing to our outdoor kitchen and patio line.

All work and no play make for a dull road trip.  Fortunate enough to arrive and leave in the good weather that bookended the storm that had I-40 snarled for 32 miles, we all had a great time in a snowy Nashville. The next time you are in Nashville, we would heartily recommend Morton’s Steak House, especially if you can get a high quality supplier like Olympia Chimney to take you out for dinner! Some of us also took a turn as rodeo stars on the mechanical bull at the Tequila Cowboy, bathed in the Nashville sound at Tootsie’s World Famous Orchid Bars (three floors, each with its own band), or tried to break into the music scene at a karaoke bar, which will remain unnamed in case they have video of the performances.

From stoves and fireplace accessories to grills and patio furniture, there was something for everybody at the HPB Expo, and we enjoyed our time there. We went to Nashville filled with questions and excitement, and came back filled with new information, freshly-polished skills, and lots of great products and ideas for the future!